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Simple DIY Cat Toys

It seems like no matter how many toys my cats have, they always get bored of them. Maybe I should take a cue from Ruth at Living Well Spending Less and take away their toys! I wonder… In the meantime, we have been making these easy, inexpensive cat toys, changing the variety and type of ribbon to keep them engaged. They love them!

Supplies:

Ribbon: Any variety, really. We like to reuse ribbons from birthday or Christmas wrappings.

Scissors

Ruler or measuring device

Wand or stick to attach the toy: We have a bunch of these from other toys, so will just re-purpose one.

Start by cutting 8-10 pieces of ribbon approximately 12″ long. It doesn’t matter if they are precise – having different length pieces adds to the intrigue!

Hold all but one of the pieces together by the center and fold them in half, creating loops.

Take the last piece (I will refer to this as the white ribbon, as shown in the pictures) and hold it with your thumb so there is a small tail pointed away from the loops.

Starting about 1/2″ from the tops of the loops, wrap the long end of the white ribbon around all of the ribbons, moving downward so you are covering the short tail of the white ribbon, holding it in place.

After you’ve wrapped 6-8 times, tie it off by making a loop with the white ribbon, and pulling the long end through. (You might want to do this twice to be sure it holds.)

Thread the long end of the white ribbon through the loops of the other ribbons.

To attach to a wand or stick, tie a loop at the long end of the white ribbon. (This makes it easy to interchange with other toys down the road.) Use a string to tie to the wand.

Now go play with your cat!

A special thank you to Peter (my husband) and Milo (the cat) for their help with this post!